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Daily Dish: 2/15/2013

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
02/15/2013 06:34:23 AM EST

Maggie Smith says she hasn't seen 'Downton'

Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on "Downton Abbey." But she's not one of them.

The 78-year-old actress, who portrays Lady Grantham in the popular PBS series, told "60 Minutes" that she hasn't watched the drama because doing so would only make her agonize over her performance. She said she may watch it someday.

She has three Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony Award, but said the "Downton Abbey" role has given her more public recognition than anything in her career.

'Melrose' actress gets three years for deadly N.J. crash

A former "Melrose Place" actress who was driving drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a New Jersey woman has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The victim's husband yelled, "What a travesty!" at the judge after Thursday's sentencing, and he and his son stormed out of the courtroom.

Amy Locane-Bovenizer faced up to 10 years in prison after a jury in November convicted her of vehicular homicide in the 2010 death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman in Montgomery Township. The judge lowered the maximum sentence, citing the hardship on Locane-Bovenizer's two children. One has a medical and mental disability.

The actress apologized to Seeman's family.

ABC to broadcast Miss America in Atlantic City

Atlantic City's casino and tourism industries are providing financial incentives that helped lure the Miss America pageant back to the seaside city where it started 93 years ago.

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The pageant returns to Atlantic City in September after spending six years in Las Vegas. New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno announced a three-year deal with pageant officials on Thursday.

Officials say ABC will broadcast Miss America for the next three years. Dates are not set yet.

The pageant was an Atlantic City fixture until 2006 when organizers moved it to Las Vegas in hopes of attracting a younger TV audience.

Katie Couric bedeviled by strange 911 calls

Katie Couric is losing sleep over some odd 911 calls.

New York City police said Thursday they had been called to Couric's Manhattan home several times recently because of 911 calls traced to a phone listed there. The 911 operator hears only static, but police are compelled to answer each call.

The calls come on Tuesdays at 2 a.m., as Couric told an audience at her talk show's taping this week.

Police say they are investigating whether something's wrong with her phone or if Couric is the victim of a high-tech prankster.

Nicks, Fogerty, more perform with Grohl in NYC

Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters played house band for Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Rick Springfield at a sold-out concert in New York City.

Nicks, Fogerty and Springfield performed at the Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif., in the late 1960s through the early '90s.

They are the subjects of Grohl's just-released directorial debut, the documentary "Sound City."

Grohl kicked things off Wednesday night with Alain Johannes. The crowd at the Hammerstein Ballroom then roared as Lee Ving of Fear, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine took the stage.

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